- The Pain Catastrophising Score (PCS) is a 13 item instrument which asks patient to reflect on past painful experiences, and to indicate the degree to which they experienced each of these 13 thoughts or feelings, on 5-point scales with the end points; 0 = not at all, 4 = all the time. The PCS yields a total score and three subscale scores assessing rumination, magnification and helplessness (7).